Movie Review: Panic Room

Panic Room was a peculiarly well-timed thriller, given how our sense of security has been somewhat shaken by the events of 9/11. No-one feels as safe any more and this could almost been seen as a metaphor of the American condition since the events of that fateful day.

In Panic Room, Jodie Foster plays a recently separated wife of a rich man who moves into a rambling New York brownstone mansion. Its principal attraction is a “panic room” a safe-like chamber intended to protect the residents from attack or home invasion.

It proves a useful feature when three bandits raid the house thinking it empty in search of a fortune that has been left there. The terrorised mother and daughter take sanctuary in the steel lined room until they realise that the loot is actually hidden in the panic room itself.

David Fincher directs this lean and intense thriller with the same flair that he brought to Fight Club and Se7en. He is a master of suspense and works well within this incredibly confined setting, creating a palpable sense of claustrophobia and cloying threat. Jodie Foster is one actress who doesn’t shrink from exposing her vulnerability and you can sense real fear from her. As her daughter Kristen Stewart is perfectly cast and she has that casual swagger that one remembers from Foster herself as a child. As the lead bandit, Forest Whittaker brings humanity and a strong sense of empathy to his role while Jared Leto and Dwight Yoakam are suitably oily as the desperate villains.

Panic Room is perhaps one of the best thrillers in years. When you watch it on DVD, you might want to check your locks later.

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Madonna Collection Box Set

Madonna’s movie career has been a shaky one with more misses than hits. However a new boxed set from Fox has collected her best films that show

the material girl working with her best material ever. Desperately Seeking Susan saw a spectacular start to her career in a sexy comedy romp that virtually defined the zeitgeist in the MTV inspired early ’80s. In it Madonna plays a bad girl who meets her beloved through personal ads in the paper. Her movements soon become monitored by a bored house-wife who follows her mysterious idol and becomes the focus of a mystery herself.

In Bed With Madonna was the revealing documentary that followed the singer on tour. As you might suspect, she was exposed as something of a

domineering diva. Certainly we’d expect nothing less. The fly on the wall perspective is truly fascinating and if nothing else, added to the

legend of Madonna and somehow the intimate look managed to make her seem even more larger than life.

Body of Evidence had Madonna in her element as a mysterious femme fatale with possibly lethal skills of lovemaking. She had an unexpected chemistry with Willem Dafoe who played the attorney trying to save her from conviction after she was charged with killing a lover during sex.

Steamy and stylish, it will keep you guessing until the final moments. Handsomely packaged, the Madonna Collection Box Set should thrill fans

but packs enough quality to impress even the most hardened Madonna critics.

Thanks to Fox Home Entertainment, She Said and Total DVD have three copies of the Madonna Box Set to give away. If you want your chance to own this great prize, click click here.

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